What I am going to say is not based on research, but I believe that the fact that people are far away from their usual social networks probably means that they have less protection from post-traumatic stress. It is not easy to go through difficult situations on the job, but if you can go home at night and be with your loved ones and call a friend, those things help protect you. The possibility, for example, that a firefighter might lose a colleague in a fire, another one the next day and yet another three days later is much lower than being in that kind of situation in Afghanistan, where people are killed on a regular basis. Military personnel suffer repeated traumas and are far from home. Military life requires a tremendous ability to adapt. That is the way it is; that is the way it has to be. But from a mental health perspective, it is still very difficult. That is my opinion.
On April 24th, 2007. See this statement in context.